The Dark Knight Rises - The Wait Is Almost Over

         This summer marks the release of the highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises. This film will round out Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. The film includes many returning actors such as Christian Bale. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, etc. For the first time we will be introduced to new characters such as Bane and Catwoman played by Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway.

         The storyline picks up eight years after Batman captures The Joker. He returns to Gotham after a new terrorist leader, Bane, begins causing mass destruction across the city.

This movie is the most anticipated film of the year and is expecting to break box office records. Batman Begins, which was released in 2005, brought in $205,343,774 domestic and $372,710,015 worldwide. The Dark Knight, which came out in 2008, brought in $533,345,358 domestic and $1,001,921,825 worldwide. The Dark Knight Rises is predicted to make well over $500 million domestic and beat The Dark Knight for worldwide sales.

         The studio is hoping all of the hype is true because this has also been the most expensive Batman film that Nolan has made. Batman Begins had an estimated budget of $150 million. The Dark Knight had an estimated budget of $185 million. If any one has seen The Dark Knight, they know what an amazing movie it is. Some would even question how it could be beat. Christopher Nolan plans on beating it with The Dark Knight Rises, which has an estimated budget of $250 million.

If one thing seems to be certain, it will most likely be the best superhero movie of the year. Currently The Avenger's hold the record for domestic lifetime gross in the superhero movie's category. It has currently made $600,377,080. Another anticipated superhero movie being released this summer is the remake of the Spiderman series. The Amazing Spider Man will hit theaters every where July 3^rd but does not seem to be in the ranking to top either The Avengers or Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight Rises will be in theaters worldwide July 20^th. 

Cannes, France - Distribution Mania!

         Among all of the film festivals around the world, the most prestigious and publicized is the Cannes Film Festival. The festival was founded in 1946 and is held annually in Cannes, France. Filmmakers, directors, distributors, buyers, and enthusiasts travel from all over the world to Cannes to take part in the crème de la crème of film festivals.    

        

         This past years 2012 festival took place from May 16th to May 27th. Every year a jury is elected to act as judges for the major films being shown at the festival. This years jury was led by Nanni Moretti. Moretti was voted best director in the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. In 2001, his film The Son's Room, won the Palme d’or, which is the most prestigious award one can get at the festival. Other members of the jury were made up actresses and directors from around the world. Some of these include:  Hiam Abbass, Andrea Arnold, Emmanuelle Devos, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Diane Kruger, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, and Raoul Peck.

         

        Besides the major films, which are premiered at the festival, hundred of films are shown every day in over 50 theaters set up around the town of Cannes. This films range from small $1,000 budget projects to large scale, studio backed films.

         

        If you have ever attended the Cannes Film Festival, you know that it is all business by day and party by night. Every day of the film festival is full of hundreds of thousands of small meetings trying to make the next big film. Buyers who represent studios will go to a festival to try and find a film they feel that can make a lot of money. From there the buyer will meet with the film crew who owns the rights to the movie to discuss money and terms of contract. After this process a movie is then shopped around until a distribution deal is made.

         

        For independent filmmakers, the festival is an amazing way to promote and network their film. Every day there are different film corners, happy hours, and events for filmmakers to come together and network. For those who are lucky, their films will be discovered and they may be able to sign a distribution deal. A distribution deal is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for independent filmmakers. These deals are what they go to festivals all around the world for. If one thing is for sure, the Cannes Film Festival is the place to be for all advocates of film.

        

            

Wes Anderson's Use of Limited Distribution

It has been a few years since we have seen Wes Anderson’s name appear back on the big screen. His last movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox, was released in 2009 and used very unique animation to retell Roald Dahl’s famous story. The last movie Anderson wrote and used real people in was Hotel Chevalier, which was released in 2007. For five years now, the public has wondered what will Wes Anderson’s next original film be and when will we see it? And to any true Wes Anderson fan; will Bill Murray be in it?

This year Anderson’s new movie, Moonrise Kingdom, hit select theaters around the country. It is the story of two young lovers who run away from their New England town, which causes a search party to go out looking for them. The movie has a star studded cast which includes but is not limited to; Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Kara Hayward, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, and of course the one and only Bill Murray. Murray has appeared in 5 or Anderson’s last 6 films, which has indirectly turned him into an iconic piece of a true Wes Anderson film.

Moonrise Kingdom was the opening film in this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film teamed up with the indie distribution Focus Features who is owned by NBC and Comcast. Upon the film’s release on May 15^th, it was only shown in four theaters. Two theaters in New York and two theaters in Los Angeles were the only theaters in the country to release the film. According to Box Office Mojo, Moonrise Kingdom earned $167,250 per screen. For comparison, Men in Black 3 earned $16,478 per screen. Although overall numbers are much different, Focus Features states that Moonrise Kingdom’s box office was the highest per theater for a non-animated film of all time. Focus Features’ goal is to create as big of a buzz as they can for the film before it is released worldwide. Behold the powers of limited distribution!

The Film has also teamed with Swedish Distribution Company, NonStop Entertainment for the release across Scandinavia. NonStop Entertainment will own the rights to distribute in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, as well as Norway.